Teaching controversial issues poses challenges for teacher candidates, stemming from apprehensions about potential backlash and gaps in content and pedagogical knowledge. The prevailing emphasis on tested subjects such as mathematics and reading/writing in elementary school education often sidelines social studies and science, limiting opportunities for candidates to engage with these disciplines and their associated instructional strategies, including addressing controversial topics. Integrating social studies and science with other subject areas emerges as a viable approach to ensure comprehensive education. Teacher education coursework serves as a vital platform for exposing educators to interdisciplinary curriculum design and implementation. Such exposure prompts teacher candidates to reevaluate their preconceptions and practices concerning controversial issues. This article examines teacher candidate learning, contextualized within Interdisciplinary Pedagogical Content Knowledge (IPCK), during a two-week unit on interdisciplinary instruction that integrates social studies and science through controversial topics across two semesters of elementary school social studies and science methods courses. While findings reveal a perceptible shift in attitudes toward teaching controversy, the limited exposure to such issues in prior educational experiences impedes candidates' ability to develop curricula reflective of this evolving perspective.